A gospel a cappella group that started as a hobby among college roommates is bringing four decades of Grammy-winning harmonies to San Francisco this week. Take 6 performs four concerts at the SFJAZZ Center's Robert N. Miner Auditorium from Thursday through Sunday, with showtimes set for 7:30 p.m. tomorrow until Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday, with tickets ranging from $40 to $130.
The sextet — currently made up of Claude McKnight, Alvin Chea, Khristian Dentley, Joey Kibble, Mark Kibble and David Thomas — has performed professionally for more than 35 years, according to The Mercury News. Over that span, the group has accumulated 10 Grammy Awards from 19 nominations and 10 GMA Dove Awards, earning a reputation as the most awarded a cappella group in music history, according to The Kurland Agency. The ensemble was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2014.
A Bathroom Rehearsal Started It All
McKnight, who grew up in a musical family and began attending choir rehearsals at age 5 or 6, started what became Take 6 while attending Oakwood College — a Christian school in Huntsville, Alabama now known as Oakwood University, per the Mercury News report. McKnight, the older brother of Brian McKnight, initially had no aspiration to become a professional singer. The group began as a quartet performing old Negro spirituals and other spiritual music, largely for fun.
Mark Kibble joined after hearing the group rehearsing in a bathroom and adding a fifth vocal part on the spot, the outlet's report notes. The group performed under other names first, including Gentleman's Estate Quartet and Alliance, before adopting Take 6 upon signing with Warner Bros. Records — a change required after the group discovered another act was already using the name Alliance, according to Concord.
The break that changed everything came at a Christian bookstore showcase in Nashville that drew only about five or six attendees. McKnight has said Take 6 received its Warner Bros. offer after Jim Ed Norman, then a Warner Bros. vice president, attended that showcase and offered to sign the group on the spot. Take 6 recorded its debut just 20 days later.
Charting Across Jazz, Gospel and Pop
That 1988 self-titled debut sold more than a million copies for RIAA Platinum certification while breaking into the Top 10 of Billboard's Contemporary Jazz and Contemporary Christian charts, according to Concord. The album earned two Grammy Awards, and the group was also nominated for Best New Artist that year — a category it ultimately lost, per the Mercury News account.
The follow-up, 1990's “So Much 2 Say,” reached the Top 10 on Billboard's Gospel, Jazz, and R&B/Hip-Hop charts on the strength of the single “I L-O-V-E U,” according to AllMusic. Producer Quincy Jones publicly called the group the “baddest vocal cats on the planet” and featured them on his Grammy-winning 1989 album “Back on the Block,” per the same account. Take 6 has also performed alongside Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston and Kenny Rogers, and appeared at the White House on June 30, 2001, for President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush as part of a Black Music Month celebration, according to BlackPast.
The lineup has shifted over the decades. Original arranger Mervyn Warren left in 1991 to pursue music production and was replaced by Mark Kibble's brother, Joey Kibble, while original baritone Cedric Dent departed in 2011 to teach music full-time at Middle Tennessee State University, with Khristian Dentley stepping in, according to Concord's artist history. Take 6 also became the first American musical group to perform live in Cuba following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, according to Take6.com.
A Faith-Centered Ritual Before Every Show
Despite the accolades, McKnight has pointed to a simpler explanation for the group's staying power. Take 6 holds a worship service and prays before every show, and McKnight has said that ritual is central to why the group continues to resonate with audiences after so many years, per the Mercury News interview.
The four San Francisco dates unfold inside the 700-seat Miner Auditorium at the SFJAZZ Center, which opened in January 2013 as the first stand-alone facility in the United States built specifically for jazz performance and education, according to a Wikipedia entry on the venue. The $64 million Hayes Valley building was designed with custom Meyer Sound acoustics meant to replicate the feel of an intimate jazz club.
SFJAZZ's footprint in the neighborhood keeps growing beyond the concert hall. Founder Randall Kline broke ground earlier this year on a $140 million affordable housing project at 1687 Market Street that will convert a historic mattress factory into 94 apartments with practice space for local artists, as Hoodline previously reported. Take 6's four-night run adds another chapter to the venue's programming as it continues expanding its cultural presence in the neighborhood.
